No matter what you think someone has done, to harm you directly or from lack of care, you can always choose kindness.

You can always be the bigger person; you can always choose to forgive. You can always opt to get on with your life and hope that someday they can get on with theirs.

There’s no excuse for trolling, meanness, or malicious attacks. You will never understand what someone is going through, and acting out of anything other than kindness shows you don’t understand how humans work.

It might be the hardest thing you have to do. To smile and say hi instead of beginning a confrontation. To resist shouting and to resist judgment. To respond with a positive comment instead of a mean jibe. But you have the power within you to do it and you’ll always be pleased you did.

As Brianna Wiest says, “How you deal with the things you cannot control determines whether you are the hero or the victim of your life.”

To those who believe they are victims: set yourself free. You are feeling this way because you have let it happen. It was no one else’s fault, and that’s a good thing, because you don’t need anyone else to become the hero again either. You can always control your actions and your words and what you do with your voice. Rebuild your bridges, choose to forgive, choose to let go. Choose kindness. Not because you want recognition, not because you have a point to prove. Choose kindness because that’s all you want on your conscience and your reputation.

Choose kindness because, deep down, you know it’s right. Choose kindness because you’re a happy person with lots to offer the world, not a victim.

Meet malice with malice, and what happens? The perpetrator is vindicated in their actions. You fought fire with fire and you both lost. Lost your minds, lost your sense of perspective, lost your sense of humanity. You can choose to keep yours when you choose kindness.